FILE:  GBA

Cf:  GBD, GBN

Cf:  GBO, GBQ

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND COMPENSATION

CONTRACTS

The Acadia Parish School Board and its professional employees, with approval by the Board, shall enter into contracts of employment for a specified period of time and compensation, with exceptions as determined by the Board.  Unless otherwise stipulated at the discretion of the Board, all employees shall meet all stated position qualifications and/or certification requirements before any contract shall become valid. Renewal or issuance, when possible, of contracts of employment, as well as dismissal or non-renewal of contract notices, with the exception of performance contracts, shall be issued on or before the last day of each school year, whenever possible.  

The execution of an employee contract by the Board and employee shall be legally binding upon both parties.  Only probationary teachers employed by the Acadia Parish School Board shall be required to sign a written contract each scholastic year.  The failure of a probationary teacher to sign a contract for the ensuing school session within the specified time shall be considered as a resignation of employment on the part of the probationary teacher, unless under extenuating circumstances, an extension is granted by the Superintendent.  Any subsequent resignation or termination of said contract for reasons other than extreme emergencies, as determined by the Board, shall constitute a breach of contract against which legal action may be taken by the Board and the employee dealt with accordingly.  The Board shall empower the Superintendent to receive, finalize, and accept all resignations of school employees.  However, the Superintendent at the next available meeting shall report said resignations to the Board.

The Superintendent shall sign each teacher contract.

Performance Contracts

Administrative and supervisory personnel in positions that require certification shall be hired under the terms of a performance contract of not less than two (2) nor more than four (4) years, except when such employment is for a temporary position.  The Board shall make the final decision regarding the length of any such performance contract.  Non-renewal of any performance contract shall require notice of such to the employee of not less than 120 days prior to the expiration date of the contract.  The 120 days shall not apply to the expiration and/or renewal of the initial contract.

Support Personnel

Unless specifically covered by a written employment contract expressly entered into by the individual employee and the Acadia Parish School Board, support staff personnel, excluding bus drivers, shall be hired on an at-will employment basis.

COMPENSATION

Salary Schedules

The salaries of all personnel shall be established by the Board upon a recommendation of the Superintendent.  The salaries of all personnel are generally based upon an established salary schedule; provided, however, that salaries may be stated in and controlled by an employment contract.  Creditable service for salary determination purposes shall be all service for which employees are eligible to receive credit in accordance with statutory provisions.  Salary schedules shall be adopted by the Board, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, and may be changed at the discretion of the Board from year to year to make salary adjustments as a result of the changing revenue and state laws.

The amount of the annual salary paid to any teacher in any school year shall not be reduced below the amount of such salary paid during the previous school year, nor shall the amount of the annual salary paid to any teacher be reduced at any time during an academic year.  The limitations on the reduction in the amount of the annual salary paid to any teacher shall not be applicable to the correction of any accounting errors or to a reduction necessitated by the elimination of a state program or state funding.  Any salary reduction shall not apply to any local salary supplement funded, in whole or in part, from a revenue source requiring voter approval, when such voter approval has not been obtained.

Ordinarily, no teacher shall be placed on the payroll of the school district unless the teacher holds a valid certificate as required by law, and a copy of the teacher's contract has been filed with the Superintendent.  Exceptions shall be made only when teachers with valid certification are not available for employment, subject to Board approval.

Salary Supplements

The Board, at its discretion, may allow salary supplements to certain instructional personnel who assume special duties.  Such supplements shall be reviewed and adopted upon the recommendation of the Superintendent.

Experience Credit

A year of teaching experience is defined as each scholastic year of employment as a certified teacher in public schools within any of the fifty states of the United States of America, or within any of its territorial possessions; or as a teacher in a private or parochial school, as an employee in a state department of education, or as an instructor in an institution of higher learning.  All such experience must have been as a teacher in an institution or school accredited by one of the recognized regional accrediting agencies in the United States of America (e.g., SACS).  Experience outside the United States of America, its territories or possessions must be in an institution or school accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States of America.

A year of teaching experience shall be granted if the person was employed for at least ninety-one (91) instructional days during one scholastic year, excluding holidays, as authorized by the School Board of the school or institution.  However; not more than one (1) year of experience will be granted for a period inclusive of twelve (12) consecutive calendar months.  All experience must have been on a full-time basis.

Any teacher holding a valid Louisiana teaching certificate in the public school system of Louisiana who has transferred to Louisiana from a public school system of another state and who, at the time of such transfer, held a valid teacher's certificate from that state, shall be given full credit under the state minimum salary schedule for the years of satisfactory teaching service previously rendered in the public school system of that state.  Credit for previous teaching experience shall also be granted to anyone employed by the Board who holds a valid Louisiana teaching certificate and is employed or has been employed by another public school system in the state.

Teachers actively engaged in teaching within twelve (12) months immediately preceding induction into military service of the United States of America shall be given one (1) year of teaching experience for each year of military service provided they served as enlisted persons or commissioned officers on active duty with any of the branches of service with the United States of America.  To receive credit for military service, a teacher must file, with his/her teaching service record.  For determining total eligibility of military experience, one (1) year of teaching experience will be allowed for a full year of three hundred and sixty-five (365) days of military service.

Advanced Degree

When a teacher is awarded an advanced degree or receives additional training that would result in an increase in salary, said teacher shall be paid according to the salary schedule for the advanced degree or training beginning with the next pay period following notification of receipt of the advanced degree, or of training.  It shall be the responsibility of the employee to assure proper notification is given to the Superintendent or his/her designee.

Support Personnel

Compensation for all non-certified employees shall be based on salary schedules or hourly rates established by the Acadia Parish School Board, with the exception that no employee shall receive less than the minimum established by state or federal law.  In determining compensation and compensation plans for support personnel, the Board shall take into account the responsibilities of the position, the qualifications needed, and years of service to this district.  It shall also consider the prevailing pay for similar employment in other school districts of the area.  With limited exception, the School Board shall be prohibited from reducing the hourly wage or annual salary paid to any school employee for any school year below the amount paid the school employee for the previous school year.  The Board shall be further prohibited from reducing the hourly wage or annual salary of a school employee at any time during the academic year.  For the purpose of this paragraph, school employee shall mean any employee of the School Board that is not required to hold a teacher's certificate as a condition of employment, including but not limited to, bus operator, food service worker, paraeducator, custodian, and maintenance personnel.

Certain employees may be employed on the basis of a fixed number of days beyond the 182 days of the regular school year, and shall be paid on the basis of his/her daily rate of pay.

Upon re-employment, a support employee shall be granted credit for prior years of experience with the Acadia Parish School Board for purposes of salary computation only.

Bus Drivers’ Fuel Supplement

In the event of escalating fuel costs, the Acadia Parish School Board shall provide contract bus drivers fuel adjustments in accordance with the following:

Retirees

The salary of any retiree who is reemployed as a full-time teacher shall be based on the salary schedule which accounts for all prior years of teaching service and pertinent experience.  The status of any retiree who is reemployed shall be the same as a full-time active employee, subject to all applicable rules, procedures, policies, and statutes that apply to all such full-time active employees.

Revised:  September 8, 2008

Ref:     29 USC 201 (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended)

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§11:710, 17:81, 17:83, 17:84, 17:84.1, 17:411, 17:413, 17:419, 17:419.1, 17:419.2, 17:420, 17:421, 17:421.1, 17:421.2, 17:421.3, 17:421.4, 17:421.5, 17:422.6, 17:442, 17:444, 17:491, 17:492, 17:496, 17:496.1, 17:497, 17:497.1, 17:498

Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority et al., 469 U.S. 528 (1985)

Harrah Independent School District v. Martin, 99 S.Ct. 1062 (1979)

Rouselle v. Plaquemines Parish School Board, 93-1916 (La. 2/28/94), 633 So.2d 1235, 1241

Wright v. Caldwell Parish School Board, 30.448 (La. App. 2 Cir. 6/16/99)

Board minutes, 6-6-94, 10-6-97, 4-14-98, 3-3-03, 4-7-03, 9-8-08

Acadia Parish School Board